Coach Terry Stotts has been coy about whether he would rest players over the final week of the season — he did not mention Williams’ status during a pregame meeting with reporters on Wednesday — and he remained elusive on Friday, after the Blazers’ morning shootaround at EnergySolutions Arena. Well, sort of.

When asked if he would rest anyone besides Williams, Stotts said he would not. Then, a few moments later, he joked: “What if I had said, ‘Well, we’ll see tonight?’”

When a reporter told him that’s what he’d have to report, Stotts quipped: “Well, we’ll see tonight.”

As for Williams, his return no doubt will be a boost for the Blazers (51-28) as they try to maintain their stranglehold on the fifth seed in the Western Conference. They lead the Golden State Warriors (48-30), who lost to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, by 2 ½-games. The Blazers’ magic number for locking the fifth seed is two, meaning any combination of two Portland wins and Golden State losses guarantees the Blazers will finish no worse than fifth.

The Warriors visit the Los Angeles Lakers tonight, so if the Blazers defeat the Jazz and the Warriors lose to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Blazers would wrap up the fifth seed tonight.